“I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications. 2. Because He has inclined his ear unto me; therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.”
There are many reasons to love the Lord, of course, but the psalmist gives some good reasons why he loved the Lord. They can also be our reasons to love Him. We should love the Lord because He listens to us. The psalmist said, “He has heard my voice.” It always amazes me when I realize that I have the ear of the God of the universe. When I think of the millions of people who are calling on Him every second of every day, He is listening to me. I want to remind you that He is listening to you, and you can call on Him any hour of the day. Call upon the Lord and He will hear you. We should love the Lord because He cares about our greatest needs. The psalmist wrote that the “Lord…heard his supplications.” “Supplications” are pleas for mercy. Verse 6 of this psalm gives an example of what he meant: “The Lord preserves the simple. I was brought low, and He helped me.” I think that all of us know what it means to be “brought low.” God cares when we are “in the dumps,” so to speak. He is with us in “in the dumps” as well as in the high points of our lives. This is why it is important for us to praise Him even in the dark places of life. Verse 3-4 always points this out to us: “The sorrows of death compassed me about (surrounded him), and the pains of hell got hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. 4. Then I called upon the name of the Lord, O Lord, I beseech thee deliver my soul.” The implication is that when he called upon the Lord in his sorrow and the Lord delivered him. We love the Lord because He is interested in what we have to say: “He has inclined His ear to me.” Have you ever been talking to someone and it occurred to you that they have no interest in what you have to say. (Hey, I’m a preacher…I know what I’m writing about.) The sense of this verse is that God “inclines” to hear us. This means that He is listening closely to us. You might feel that no one cares what you have to say, but you will find that God is always interested in what you have to say and He is listening carefully. I don’t know about you, but that thrills me. You can love the Lord for these same reasons, for they are eternally true for your life. Take advantage of the privilege of prayer. Bro. Joe
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“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.”
I want to point out what Jesus meant when He called Himself “the good shepherd.” What Jesus meant by this is given in John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.” Shepherds literally guarded their sheep with their lives. In those days, the sheep might have belonged to the community in which they lived. The community depended upon them for their livelihood. Jesus compared them to the “hireling,” who was only hired to watch the sheep but did not have the sense of responsibility of the good shepherds. (Of course, there were hired shepherds who also qualified as good shepherds.) In verse 13, Jesus said: “The hireling flees, because he is a hireling and cares not for the sheep.” Jesus is the “good shepherd” because He cares for God’s sheep and is not only willing to die for them; He would ultimately give His life on the cross for God’s sheep. (That is us!) Jesus is the good shepherd because He knows His sheep. Jesus does not just have a shallow knowledge of our lives. Jesus knows everything about us, our words, our deeds, even our thoughts. This means that Jesus does not look at our lives through "rose colored glasses." He knows the good and bad about us! This is why it is so amazing that He loves us and was willing to give His life for us on the cross. Jesus’ love for us is not temporary, and is not based upon our actions, words or thoughts. His love is based upon the fact that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," that through Him we might be saved. We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) Frankly, Jesus loves all of us in spite of ourselves. Jesus knew that when He came to die, that He would die for sinners, who could come to Him for forgiveness and be saved. It is just a matter of claiming Him by faith into our lives. Jesus is the good shepherd because He invites us to know Him: “and am known of mine.” Isn’t this amazing? Hey, don’t miss the amazement. We should not become so gospel hardened that we miss the wonder of actually knowing Jesus – the Son of God. Jesus does not invite us into a shallow knowledge of Himself. We can know Him by a faith relationship with Him. We can know Him through scripture. We can know Him through prayer. We can know Him through the Holy Spirit who drew us to Him in the first place. We can know Jesus through serving Him. Our faith relationship with Jesus is a daily experience, in which He leads us to know Him and to serve Him. You either know Jesus, or you can know Him by inviting Him into your life today. Do it! Bro. Joe “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain."
This verse is part of Paul’s explanation of why he was not concerned about losing his life for his faith in Christ. What are the implications of this verse for our lives? It means that we are living by faith in Christ. The same faith that saves us also sustains us. We need to really have faith that Christ is in every aspect of our lives. He is in our personal lives. He is in our family lives. He is in our business lives. There is nothing that goes on in our lives that Christ is not aware of and that nothing is beyond His concern for our lives. We just need to stop doubting and believing. I preach this to myself all of the time. Paul was always surrounded by those who hated him and wanted his death, but in spite of this he won many people to Christ and started many churches. If Paul had not trusted all of the concerns of His life to Christ, we would miss all of the great epistles that he wrote. Remember that whatever you face in life, Christ is in it with you. It means that we are sharing Christ with the world. We do not live in a “faith bubble” that keeps us out of touch with other people. Christ saves us and put us to work for Him in the world. We do not do this all the same way, but we should all be doing it the way that Christ would have us do it. For example, Paul was saved on the Damascus Road to minister to Gentiles. This did not mean that he was to never preach to Jews, but his work was to be primarily with the Gentiles. This is what Paul spent his life doing. What is it that Christ wants you to do for Him? By the Holy Spirit, Christ has gifted you to serve as only you can. Your life will be enriched by knowing that you are doing what Christ has saved you to do. If Christ “is your life,” it means that you are sharing Him with the world by the way you live, and by telling others about Him. It means that the life that we are living here is only a prelude to the eternity that we will live with Christ. This is why Paul could write that “to die is gain.” Paul wanted to continue to live and to serve Christ. There was a lot that he wanted to do. But he knew that if Christ was ready for him to die, he would be better off living in eternity with Him. When Paul thought about dying, he thought about heaven. The gospel that Paul preached was not what we call “pie in the sky.” But the gospel that Paul lived was lived in the light of eternal life with Christ. We need this kind of faith in Christ. Death is something that we will all face. I have faced death at least three times in my life, and I was surprised about how calm I was about it. That calmness came from Christ, not from any “spiritual bravado” on my part. “For to me live is Christ, and to die is gain” is good advice. Take it!!!! Bro. Joe Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man (or woman) hear my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."
Revelation reminds us that Jesus wants to come into our lives. There are many reasons why Jesus wants into your life. I will want to deal with three. Jesus wants into our lives to save us. He wants to save us from our ultimate problem – sin. Jesus is always ready to forgive us for all of our sins and give us His cleansing. Jesus wants to come into our lives to make our lives better, to free us from guilt, and to free us from our self-defeat. This is actually a witness from my own experience with Jesus. It can be your witness as well. Invite Jesus in…. Jesus wants into our lives to use us. Jesus does not just save us to “join the church.” Church will be part of our lives, but we will have to live in the world as it is. Jesus wants to use us as His witnesses. This does not mean that we should just talk to people about Jesus, but we must first show people the spirit of Jesus by how we live. We cannot serve Jesus until we have invited Him into our lives, and until He has saved us. But when Jesus comes in, He gifts us with the Holy Spirit, who will lead and guide us in our choices in life. The Spirit gives us gifts of service. Jesus saved you to use you. Jesus wants into our lives to encourage us. This is not usually part of this discussion about the meaning of Revelation 3:20, but it is important to me. I do not mean to infer that Jesus is our “heavenly cheerleader.” Jesus actually wants us to enjoy life in this fallen world. After all, we are witnesses to this fallen world, and they need to see us enjoying life in Jesus. They do not need to see us as pompous self-righteous Pharisees, but as people whose lives have been made better by the entrance of Jesus into our lives. The fallen world needs to see the love of Jesus exuding from our lives. When we invite Jesus into our lives we are rewarded by His daily presence in our lives, we know that no matter what life may bring, we can live victoriously in Him and for Him. Jesus is knocking! Invite Him in! If you have done this, thank and praise Him and let Him use and encourage you. Bro. Joe “Thomas said to (Jesus), Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way? 6. Jesus answered, I am the way the truth and life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”
We are going to be repeating some things in this article, but they answer the question given in the title: What do we have in Jesus? We have the salvation from sin that only Jesus can provide. Jesus said, explicitly, “No one comes to the Father but by me.” Jesus is the only One who died on the cross to save us from sin, and it is by faith in Him that we are saved. We have God’s grace that is only provided through Jesus – God the Son. His coming announced God’s grace to the world, and His coming fulfilled God’s grace in the world. Grace means that we get what we do not deserve. God pronounced that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Romans 3:10 tells us that “there is none righteous, no, not one.” Through Jesus we “have been justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." We have God’s love that has been revealed to us through Jesus Christ. Well, we will just have to go to John 3:16 again: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” 1 John 4:19 tells us, “We love (God) because He first loved us.” That love was fulfilled through the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. We have God’s power to overcome the world through Jesus Christ. “Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5) As Paul came to the end of his great chapter in 1 Corinthians 15, he wrote: “But thanks be to God that He gives us the victory through Jesus Christ.” Overcoming the world is not a “do it yourself project.” Only Jesus can help us overcome Satan. We have God’s guidance by the Holy Spirit through Jesus.. Jesus promised that when He ascended to the Father, He would send the Holy Spirit. “Howbeit, when He the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.” It is by the Spirit’s power that we are convicted of our sins, and it is through the Spirit’s power that we are enabled to follow in the steps of Jesus. Well, these are a few of the things that we have in Jesus. Pause now and give Him thanks. Bro. Joe This text and title is a refrain that is made repeatedly through Ezekiel’s prophecies. What did it mean then and what does it mean now?
It meant that God’s judgment would surely come upon the nations such as Edom. It also meant that God’s judgment would come upon Israel for her sins. When judgment fell the people would know that God is the Lord, that He is in charge of history. He began history, and He will end it. Throughout the Bible, God’s actions among people revealed His Lordship. The Triune God is the Lord of all creation and of all history, and He wants us to know it. God acted in history to send His Son to live a perfect life and to offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. As we look back to what scholars call the “Christ event,” we see the hand of God at work and we can know that He is Lord. When Jesus heals the sick, calms the storms, feeds the hungry, raises the dead, etc. we know that He is the Lord. When Jesus breathes his last breath and says “It is finished” we know that He is the Lord. When Jesus comes out of the tomb three days later and is seen by His disciples and a multitude of other people, we know that He is the Lord. When He ascends to heaven and promises to return to get His people, we know that He is the Lord!!! We can take this text personally; in fact we should take it personally. We can know Jesus Christ as our own personal Savior. The world makes fun of our claim to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We should not hate the world for this as much as we should try to show them the love of Christ by the way we live. We are saved to win the world to Jesus and to let them know that He is the Lord our lives, and that they can also know Him as Lord. When Jesus saves us, we know that He is the Lord. Not everyone will know Jesus as their personal Savior, but there will come a time when the whole world will know that Jesus is Lord. This is a promise given in Philippians 2:9-11: “Wherefore God has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every name: 10. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth: 11. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” You can know personally know that Jesus is Lord by confessing your sins and inviting Jesus into your life. If you haven’t done it, this would be a good time to do it. Bro. Joe “Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who alone does marvelous deeds.” NIV
Psalm 72:18 reveals that the Lord does marvelous deeds. To say that God alone does “marvelous deeds” does not mean that He is the only one to do marvelous deeds, but that He alone can do the marvelous deeds that He does. Let me share some of these deeds with you. The salvation that we have through faith in Jesus Christ is a marvelous deed of God. From the time of the fall in Genesis 3, God had a plan to save people through faith in Christ. That is why Jesus is referred to as “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8) Our salvation was not dreamed up by a committee of religious leaders; it was born in the heart of God Himself. I cannot explain why that loved us enough to give His Son as a sacrifice for our sins, but I know that He did. That salvation that we have through faith in Christ is, indeed, marvelous. The Holy Spirit that indwells and leads us is a marvelous deed of God. Jesus told His disciples that He would send the “comforter” (Holy Spirit) to lead them into His truth after He ascended to the Father. (John 16:5-16) The Holy Spirit guides us in our Christian service. He enables us when we are weak and do not think victory is possible. It is the Holy Spirit who comforts us when we grieve. It is the Holy Spirit who leads us to the people and places to which we can go. I think you get the point by now that the Holy Spirit’s entrance into our lives is one of God’s marvelous deeds. The answers to our prayers are marvelous deeds of God. Prayer is one of the greatest blessings that I have in my life. It is such a comfort to know that I can go to God in prayer through the name of Jesus at anytime that I want. The same is true of you. If you are a believer in Christ, you have this wonderful opportunity. Do you really take advantage of this opportunity? Do not cheat yourself out of taking advantage this wonderful deed of God. Of course, this list of God’s marvelous deeds is incomplete, but these three deeds are uppermost in my minds at the present moment. Praise God for His marvelous deeds. Bro. Joe “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved..."
I am calling this verse from Romans “The Great Invitation” for obvious reasons. Following is what I found: “Whosoever will may come” is a theme that runs throughout the Bible, particularly in the four gospels. This is the message of Romans 10:13. The whole world, every race and all classes of people are offered the salvation that Jesus paid for on the cross The invitation is to the world, and we should honor it by going to the world. Further, this invitation says that “everyone who calls….” This presupposes that if we call on the name of the Lord, He will answer. The Bible is filled with God’s promise that if we call on Him, He will answer. This is wonderfully illustrated in the salvation of the thief on the cross. While they were dying, the thief called to Jesus: “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” He called and Jesus answered, just as He does with us. You should never hesitate to call on Jesus. If you need His salvation, you can call on Him, now, at this very moment He will hear you and answer you. The promise concludes with: “Everyone who calls “on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Not just any old name will do. It is the “name of the Lord.” The Lord referred to here is Jesus Christ. 1Timothy 2:5: “For there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men…” Further, we are told in Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace through faith have you been saved.” When we call on the name of Lord Jesus Christ in faith, we will be saved. If we did not believe in Him we would not call on Him in the first place. What does it mean to be “saved”? It means to enter into a faith relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus becomes a part of our lives here and we will be with Him hereafter. The “Great Invitation” is for you, or for anyone to whom you may offer the invitation. Bro. Joe “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say Rejoice. 5. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6. Be careful for nothing: but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God. 7. And the peace of God which passes understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
I want us to observe three qualities that every Christian needs in his or her witness to the world. The first quality is to “rejoice in the Lord always.” The admonition is that we should rejoice whether things are going for us or against us. This is difficult, for we do not have a difficult time rejoicing when things are good, but it is not always easy when things are bad. However, if we will look back we will see that the bad times were greater times of growth in our Christian walk than the good times. I know that this is true in my life. We need the quality of joy for our own spiritual health as well as for our witness to the world. The Second quality is to “let your moderation (gentleness) be know unto all people.” This means that we are to be patient and kind in our demeanor, and in our treatment of people. This was a quality that Jesus portrayed in His dealings with people. Frankly, this is a quality that is sorely needed in our churches. I trust that you know what I mean without my elaborating on it. We need to have this quality in our families as well as in our dealings with people. This is probably one of our more Christ like qualities. The Third quality is not being anxious about anything. The text infers that we should pray about everything, and turn everything over to the Lord. This is easy to read, and to write, but it is not always easy to do. This means that we are to meet life with faith in Christ, believing that He will be enough to carry us over the rough spots. This is not really complicated, for Christ is always available to us through the Holy Spirit. When we turn everything over to Christ, He will give us “peace that passes understanding.” We do not have to try to understand what Jesus can and will do in our lives; we just need to accept what He does and be grateful. Do you have these qualities in your life? They are all available to you! Bro. Joe “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. 11. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. 12. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good and our land shall yield her increase. 13. Righteousness shall go before Him, and shall set us in the way of his steps.”
These verses contain the components of true revival. We can take these promises that were given to Israel and apply them to our need for revival. We need to understand that for us to have true revival we will need God’s mercy and truth. They are tied together in this text to show us that we need to experience both. We need God’s mercy because we are sinners in need of God’s mercy, which He gives abundantly. But with God’s mercy comes His truth. We cannot fully appreciate God’s abundant mercy if we do not also appreciate His truth. We have an answer for mercy and truth through Jesus, who said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Jesus is ready and willing to supply His mercy and truth for us. We cannot deny our need for Christ’s mercy and we cannot deny His truth in our lives. The promise that Jesus gave to the church in Laodicea is also given to us: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with me.” The psalmist tied righteousness and peace together. He wrote that they have “kissed each other.” The Hebrew word for “kissed” means to “kiss repeatedly and intensely.” (Key Word Study Bible) We are reminded, as we were with mercy and truth, that we cannot have peace without righteousness. Revival will mean that we have surrendered to living righteously and in the process have peace. We cannot have one without the other. Often we try to attain, and maintain, peace in our churches without also living in God’s righteousness. Of course our commitment to biblical truth is important in our experiencing the revival that is promised in this text. Finally we are promised that when we receive God’s mercy and truth, and when righteousness and truth have “kissed each other,” we will realize the blessings of the Lord in our churches. Read verses 11-13 in the text printed above. It is important to see the concluding words in the text: “and (He) shall set us in the way of His steps.” God-sent revival makes a difference in our fellowship and in our personal commitment to following in the steps of Jesus. Are we ready for this kind of revival in our lives and in our churches? Bro. Joe |
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